Del Piero's management insists the club needs to table an offer to the 38-year old or risk seeing him walk away – a threat no Sydney fan will want to hear after his extraordinary performance on Saturday night.

However, Pignata insists the Sky Blues will be entering contract discussions with the former Juventus star in the next couple of weeks.

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"Does this [performance] change anything? No, but I'm still confident that Alessandro wants to be here next season and we want him here, too. I want to make that very clear," Pignata said. "Our chairman, Scott Barlow, has been away for a few weeks and when Scott gets back next week we'll continue discussions with Alessandro.

"I'm fully expecting Alessandro will be here next year, wearing Sydney FC's No.10 shirt. We'll get it done. Everyone's just waiting for that signature on the paper – and we firmly believe it will happen."

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Del Piero has now scored nine goals in 14 games, his most prolific campaign since 2008-9. Asked why Del Piero's future hadn't been resolved given his starring displays this season, Pignata conceded other issues had taken priority.

"There's been no hold-up. Everyone has been pressuring for Alessandro to be here, and while we understand that, there's a process to go through first," he said. "In reality, it's just about finalising a few bits and pieces. We're very, very positive about him being here next year. I know the fans want him, I know the FFA [Football Federation Australia] wants to keep him and it goes without saying that we want him as well."

Any question of Del Piero being the one delaying talks was also quashed by Pignata.

"No, absolutely not, there's been no drag from them. They wanted it ages ago but at the time we were going through a tough period and there were others things to focus on," he said. "To Alessandro's credit, he knows what to do, he's a professional."

Pignata hailed Del Piero as being "truly fantastic for the A-League" and said the momentum gained from his performance against the Phoenix would most likely result in a sell-out crowd for the match against Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park on Australia Day.

"For those 13-odd thousand that were here, well, what a moment for them to witness in person. They'll never forget seeing something like that from him and I hope that for the next home crowd, we can double that and get more than 20,000 to watch him in action," he said.

"There's going to be a massive crowd in Melbourne not just to watch the game but to watch Alessandro. All of Melbourne has been waiting for this game for a long, long time and I can't wait to see us go down and play them."